PROGRAM COMMITTEE

Geri Richmond

Geraldine (Geri) Richmond is Sigma Xi president and the Presidential Chair in Science and professor of chemistry at the University of Oregon where she has been since 1985. Her research examines the chemistry and physics that occurs at complex surfaces that have relevance to important problems in energy production, environmental remediation, and atmospheric chemistry. She received the National Medal of Science in 2016 and she is a member of the National Science Board.

Alli Antar

Alli Antar is an assistant professor in the Department of Pediatrics at Baylor College of Medicine (BCM) and principal investigator of a U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded lab conducting biomedical research, with a focus on obesity and metabolism. Antar enjoys mentoring BCM SMART summer students and post-baccalaureate students interested in careers in STEM and medicine. Antar is the associate director of Sigma Xi's Southwest Region and vice president of the Rice University–Texas Medical Center Sigma Xi Chapter.

Andrew Howard

Andrew Howard is interim chair of the Biological Sciences Department at Illinois Institute of Technology and treasurer of the Illinois Institute of Technology Chapter of Sigma Xi. He is a macromolecular crystallographer, specializing in methods development. In recent years he has focused on scientific education at the pre-university and university levels. Howard serves as chair of the Macromolecular Special Interest Group of the American Crystallographic Association (ACA) and previously was chair of the ACA's Education Committee.

William J. Karpus

William J. Karpus is a professor in the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine at the University of Wisconsin–Madison and dean of the university’s Graduate School. He has been studying the role of chemokines in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis as a model for multiple sclerosis (MS) and has been using rat and mouse models of MS to understand demyelinating disease pathogenesis. He previously served as the contact officer for the University of Wisconsin Sigma Xi Chapter.

Mike Madden

Mike Madden is a research biologist working at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. He examines biological responses and health effects in people exposed to ambient air pollution, including particulate matter, ozone, oxides of nitrogen, aldehydes, diesel engine exhaust, and biofuels combustion emissions. His work also involves validating biomarkers of exposure, and identifying potentially sensitive and susceptible populations. Madden received a PhD in toxicology from the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill in 1986. He is the former president and current vice president of university's Sigma Xi chapter.

Jennifer Mihalick

Jennifer Mihalick is a professor of chemistry at the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh. She received a PhD in physical chemistry from Stanford University. Her laboratory research focuses on the thermodynamics of weakly bonded systems, and she has collaborated with artists on development of materials. A past director of the University of Wisconsin Women and Science Program, she has also studied strategies for increasing the participation of groups traditionally underrepresented in STEM. She is president of the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh Sigma Xi Chapter.

Emma Perry

Emma Perry is a professor of marine biology at Unity College in Maine. Perry was born and educated through her undergraduate degree in zoology in Britain before immigrating to the United States for her PhD in biology in 1990. She has been involved in Unity College’s governance at many levels, such as designing and creating successful undergraduate majors including the marine biology major. She uses tardigrades to teach students how to think, how to question like a scientist, and then how to address the questions they pose. Perry is the chair of the Sigma Xi Committee on Qualifications and Membership, the Membership-at-Large associate director, and former chair and current member of the Committee on Grants in Aid of Research.

Deepshikha Shukla

Deepshikha Shukla is an associate professor of physics at Rockford University in Illinois. When not teaching she can be found doing research in theoretical physics or engaged in STEM outreach programs. She volunteers for various programs such as Science Olympiad and Regional Science Fairs. She earned her PhD in physics from Ohio University and was awarded the 2008 American Physics Society’s Division of Nuclear Physics dissertation award. She is the vice president and secretary of the Rockford University Sigma Xi Chapter.

Allen Taflove

Allen Taflove is a professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering of Northwestern University in Illinois. Since 1972, he has pioneered fundamental theoretical approaches, algorithms, and applications of finite-difference time-domain (FDTD) computational solutions of Maxwell’s equations. His major publication, Computational Electrodynamics: The Finite-Difference Time-Domain Method, has been ranked the 7th most-cited book in physics. He is the president of the Northwestern University Sigma Xi Chapter.

SIGMA XI STAFF

Eman Ghanem

Eman Ghanem is the director of Membership, Chapters, and Programs at Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society. Prior to Sigma Xi, she was the co-director of Student and External Relations for the Freshman Research Initiative at The University of Texas–Austin, where she also served as the research educator for the Supramolecular Sensors Stream. Ghanem holds a PhD in biochemistry from Texas A&M University.

Jamie L. Vernon

Jamie L. Vernon is executive director and chief executive officer of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Honor Society. Vernon has been on the Society’s staff since 2014, starting as the director of science communications and publications as well as editor-in-chief of the Society’s magazine, American Scientist. Vernon earned his PhD in cell and molecular biology at The University of Texas at Austin.